Anima (Her Soul): A Drama in Three Acts

Amelia Pincherle Rosselli

1898

Scene III

Giorgio [Entering]:

Am I disturbing you?

Olga:

So it seems! What good wind brings you here? Sit down.

Giorgio:

Thank you. I’m returning from the Exposition . . .

Olga:

Ah, you went! . . .

Giorgio:

. . . and passing by, I couldn’t resist the temptation to come in for a moment to tell you that your painting is a masterpiece.

Olga:

Nothing less!

Giorgio…
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Following the development of protagonist Olga and taking philosophical conceptions of love as its central subject, this play presents a protofeminist view of its contemporary Italian milieu. Notably, much of the play’s central drama is premised in the protagonist’s rape, a plot device the play uses to question societal views of sexual violence, marital hierarchy, and women’s independence. The drama was acclaimed when it first played, winning an accolade from the Italian government.

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The Birth of Modern Secular Writing at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

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As a generation of Jewish novelists, poets, and dramatists came of age, modern Jewish secular texts and journalism flourished in Jewish and European languages. 

Creator Bio

Amelia Pincherle Rosselli

1870–1954

Born in Venice to an affluent Jewish family, Amelia Pincherle Rosselli was educated in a household actively involved in the national unification of Italy. She moved to Rome in 1885 with her family and there married Giuseppe Rosselli in 1892; they moved to Vienna afterward. Pincherle Rosselli began her career as a writer during this period, bringing her debut three-act drama Anima (Her Soul) to the stage in Turin in 1898. Pincherle Rosselli continued to publish novels, poetry, and plays for several more decades. She died in Florence.

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